Archive for December, 2008

Astro-philatelics, part 45

Fujeira Apollo 16 stamp

These awesome stamps from Fujeira focus exclusively on Apollo 16, as seen through television stills. I really like the look, it’s very unique.

Fujeira Apollo 16 stamps

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Googie Tuesday, part 10

Holiday Inn - Bessemer Super Highway

This lovely starburst was sent my way by Brian — the Bessemer, Alabama Holiday Inn, circa 1957. I find the sign extremely enticing, myself. The present-day photos of the former-Holiday-Inn property, not so much.

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Space Origami

Origami Rocket
Paper Star

I loved origami as a kid (and occasionally as an adult, when I feel like getting frustrated lol), and found these two via Google:

The second one does involve glue; some folders-of-paper prefer to avoid modifications beyond folding, so I thought I’d give you fair warning.

Here’s some books and kits and things, as well, for your space origami-folding pleasure.

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Astronaut Snoopy

Astronaut Snoopy

I saw this adorable plush here. Still no sign of him on the Hallmark website, but maybe your local Hallmark store has one? (Mine sure didn’t, and not the NASA ornament, neither.)

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Cygnus Trio

Cygnus Trio, copyright J-P Metsävainio

This amazing false-color mosaic highlights the Cygnus trio of nebulae:

In this colorful mosaic, filaments of gas and dust span some 9 degrees across central Cygnus, a nebula rich constellation along the northern Milky Way. A trio of nebulae with popular names highlights the beautiful skyscape – the Butterfly, the Crescent, and the Tulip. At left, the Butterfly Nebula (IC 1318), lies near bright star Gamma Cygni. The Butterfly’s expansive, glowing, wing-shaped gas clouds are divided by a dark dust lane. Near center, the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) is more compact, a cosmic bubble with a bright edge blown by winds from a massive Wolf-Rayet star. On the right is the Tulip Nebula (Sh2-101), a small emission region shaped like a blossoming flower viewed from the side. All are within a few thousand light-years of the Sun in the Orion spiral arm of our galaxy. The gorgeous mosaic is presented in false color, constructed from image data recorded through narrow band filters. The range of colors was created by a mapping of emission from hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen atoms in the nebula to red, green, and blue hues.

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In the beginning

Earthrise

Forty years ago, Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr. and William A. Anders spent their Christmas witnessing the first Earthrise, and sent a televised broadcast back to Earth with the following message:

William Anders
“We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Jim Lovell
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Frank Borman
“And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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Googie Tuesday, part 9

Shooting Star

I think it’s the colors and composition of this photo that make me love it so. (Photo by helveticaneue.)

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Romance of the Heavens

Romance of the Heavens cigarette cards
Romance of the Heavens cigarette cards

These beautiful cigarette cards are part of a set entitled “Romance of the Heavens”, issued in 1928 by Wills Cigarettes. (Top and bottom photos were issued in 1929 and have been redone to say “Romance of the Heavens” in the top corner, instead of “Wills Cigarettes”.) I’ve been unable to find larger scans of them (those shown were taken from auction scans, the parts that weren’t watermarked, anyway.)

One seller describes them: “These cards show drawings of the planets and stars; the backs describe how these were understood in the 1920s.” Fortunately an eBay Guide has the details:

Name Of Set: Romance of the Heavens
Manufacturer: WD and HO Wills
Issue Year: 1928
Card Number: 50
Card Titles: Haley’s Comet, One Theory of the Formation of the Moon, Neap Tides, Spring Tides, A Shower of Meteors, A Lunar Corona, Typical Lunar Craters, Lunar Craters, The Earth as Seen From the Moon, Earth Shine, Mock Moons, Phases of the Moon, Portion of the Moon’s Surface, The Dumb Bell Nebula, A Spiral Nebula, The Inner Planets, The Outher Planets, Jupiter, Two Views of Mars, An Imaginary Landscape of Mars, The Surface of Mercury-Imaginary, Saturn, Saturn’s Rings, Two Views of Saturn, The Dark Sid of Venus-and Imaginary View, The Sunlit Sid of Venus-and imaginary view, Cassiopeia and Pole Star, The Composition of a Star, The Evolution of a Star, Two Giant Stars, Leo, The Milky Way, Orion, The Pleiades, The Pole Star and the Plough, The Southern Cross, Variable Stars, The Aurora Australis, The Aurora Borealis, The Cause of Auroras, Solar Corona, Electrical Discharges from the Sun, An Eclipse, An Eclipse of the Sun Viewed from the Moon, The Midnight Sun, Shadows and Rainbows, Solar Prominences, Typical Sun Spot, and The Zodiacal Light.

Romance of the Heavens cigarette cards

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Snoopy Salutes NASA

Snoopy NASA Ornament

Snoopy salutes the 50th anniversary of NASA, one of Hallmark’s 2008 Keepsake Ornaments. Must get my hands on this little guy.

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Portrait of a Nebula

Portrait of NGC 281

A lot of times what will draw me to an astronomical photo is color; whether false- or true-color, the composition of hue and intensity is usually what catches my eye. Today’s image is one of those — an incredible array of smoldering russets and pale periwinkles, punctuated by stars and darker streaks of dust. Enjoy.

Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and it’s almost easy to miss stars of the open cluster IC 1590. But, formed within the nebula, that cluster’s young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in this colorful portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted columns and dense dust globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation. Sometimes called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape in wider-field views, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This composite image was made through narrow-band filters and shows emission from the nebula’s hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms in green, red, and blue hues. It spans over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.

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